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UPDATE: Hospital board keeps same millage rate

The nine-member Sarasota Memorial Hospital Board of Directors Sept. 19 approved an ad valorem millage rate of 1.0863 for fiscal year 2012, which is unchanged from the previous fiscal year.

No member of the public appeared to comment on the millage rate or budget, said Kim Savage, spokeswoman for the medical center. “It was quiet,” she said.

The board Monday also approved a plan to move the hospital’s University Parkway urgent care center from a leased building at 2401 University Parkway to the hospital’s complex at the intersection of University Parkway and Honore Avenue. The lease for the urgent care center will be up in September 2012, Savage said, so the move will take place about a year from now.

The decision, she said, was based on the fact that the urgent care center is not that visible at its current site, whereas the hospital’s facilities at the Honore intersection are much busier.

Nonetheless, Savage said, the University Parkway facility had logged about 10,000 visits so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. That is about 1,000 more than the SMH urgent care center at 6331 S. Tamiami Trail.

In other news Monday, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System announced that it and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida had expanded their insurance agreement to make SMH’s three urgent care centers in-network options for BCBSF members, effective Sept. 15. BCBSF serves more than 44,000 members in Sarasota County, according to Savage.

The other two urgent care centers are on South Tamiami Trail and River Heritage Boulevard in Bradenton.

The Sept. 19 meeting will be aired on Access Sarasota Comcast TV 19/Verizon 32. For the schedule, check the Access Sarasota TV section on www.sarasotagov.com.